Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Due October 8, 2009
Teac259‐Digital Divide
Digital Divide
Digital divide is referred to as the division between Internet accessible students at home
and non-internet accessible students at home. This access differs due to economic standing, race,
and geography. While some student’s families cannot afford the cost of Internet (or computer),
there may also be students that do not live in areas where high-speed Internet can be accessed.
There are many issues that come along with this digital divide. While those that are not
able to access the internet “fall behind”, the more fortunate students that do have internet are
getting more experienced on what their futures hold for them. “The digital divide framework is
different now because inner-city kids need to be able to compete with suburban kids- and kids in
Shanghai” (Jennifer Hoar, June 15, 2006). The world is so close to making us all together, you
can easily just text someone across the country or be on video chat with someone in Japan. So
anymore jobs are not just hiring people that live in their city, but they are hiring people across
the world due to the accessibility of Internet and connecting to people around the world.
The digital division is not just an issue for students but it is also an issue between teachers
and parents. It seems to be a lot easier to get a hold of groups of people (ex: your students
parents) when you are able to just send out a mass email containing important information. It is
also easier to send emails to individual parents and will protect privacy and the case of someone
One last issue about this digital divide is most students do have Internet access at school,
but teachers are not up to date on how you can use Internet or technology for their curriculum.
Also some teachers believe it is to time consuming. “Learning through projects while equipped
with technology tools allows students to be intellectually challenged while providing them with a
realistic snapshot of what the modern office looks like” (Edutopia Staff, 3/16/2008). Teachers
Amber Ricketts
Due October 8, 2009
Teac259‐Digital Divide
need to realize that incorporating Internet into curriculum is crucial and really allows the students
to explore their possibilities. The last problem with the Internet access in schools is the
filtrations. Most schools filter: games that are perfect for a school setting and really nice or
I expect that as I emerge into my teaching career I will run into this digital divide. Some of
the challenges I may face are children not being able to work on projects that they did not finish
in class at home. I once had a project that we had to make a short video about certain topics;
thankfully somebody in my group had a video camera, because my family does not own one.
These cases I will have to make sure to avoid having the students work on them at home. I
should also supply them with these materials if capable when they need to work on them after
I can also expect that this division will limit my access to parents/guardians that do not
have Internet. They will be much harder to contact because of the lack of Internet. Parents may
feel “left-out” and discouraged because their child could be the only student to not have Internet
As to how I will deal with these challenges is still up in the air. I will try and make sure
everyone has Internet access at home, and if they do not, I will allow more time to work on the
Internet and computers during school hours. The parent-teacher interaction could easily be
worked out through telephone conversations; it will not be as convenient but can easily be done.
I really do not know how else I can overcome these challenges and still allow the students to